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City to prohibit certain park activities

City Commissioners are expected today to approve an ordinance that would define all city parks as either passive or active and would prohibit certain activities in city parks.

The commission OK’d a staff request in November to create the new rules. That request came after a few public complaints that people were playing golf in Payne Park and late-night football in Five Points Park.

Passive parks would be defined as those with “low-impact activities, such as walking, jogging, sitting, picnicking, or similar activities that typically require no organization, specialized facilities and/or equipment.”

The definition of active parks would be those with “high-impact activities or team sports, such as football, softball, baseball, basketball, soccer, disc golf, lawn bowling, swimming or similar activities that typically require organization, specialized facilities and/or equipment.”

The ordinance would prohibit those activities allowed in active parks to be played in passive parks. It would also prohibit in all parks activities that the city deems “unreasonably dangerous or destructive,” and limit certain activities, such as golf and archery, to certain parks.